[News Terms] 'Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry Storage Facility' Built at Gori Nuclear Power Plant

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] Spent nuclear fuel from reactors must be temporarily stored until final disposal and processing. The temporary storage methods for spent nuclear fuel are divided into 'wet storage facilities,' which cool decay heat and shield radiation by submerging the fuel in water storage pools, and 'dry storage facilities,' which store the fuel for a certain period in wet storage pools to adequately reduce decay heat before drying and storing it.

According to the '2nd Basic Plan for High-Level Radioactive Waste Management' finalized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in December 2021, nuclear waste including spent nuclear fuel must be stored on the nuclear power plant site until a third-party regional interim storage facility or permanent disposal facility is constructed. Spent nuclear fuel stored on the plant site will be immediately transferred once the interim storage facility is operational.

The 'silo-type' dry storage facility at Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant.
Photo by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Accordingly, all domestic nuclear power plants are equipped with wet storage facilities for temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel. In the case of the Gyeongju Wolseong heavy water reactor, dry storage facilities such as silos and MACSTOR have been constructed and operated since 1992. As of 2018, a total of 300 cylindrical silos, which are pillar-shaped storage containers, and 7 MACSTOR units, rectangular concrete structures housing multiple storage containers, are operated at domestic nuclear power plants.

Dry storage cools the heat of spent nuclear fuel using air, and because it is cost-effective and allows stable management, it is operated in 22 out of 33 nuclear power countries worldwide. During the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, some spent nuclear fuel in wet storage was damaged; however, spent nuclear fuel preserved in metal containers in dry storage remained intact, proving its safety.

Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant's 'MACSTOR-type' dry storage facility.
[Photo by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power]

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power confirmed on the 7th plans to build a dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the Kori Nuclear Power Plant in Gijang-gun, Busan. If the dry storage facility, currently installed only at the heavy water reactor Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant in Gyeongbuk Gyeongju, is installed at Kori Nuclear Power Plant, it will become the first dry storage facility at a light water reactor.

Local residents are strongly opposing the installation of the dry storage facility, saying "there is a high possibility it will effectively become a permanent storage facility." Although the 'Special Act on the Management of High-Level Radioactive Waste,' which includes provisions on the construction of interim storage and final disposal facilities, is currently under discussion in the National Assembly, controversy surrounding permanent storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel is expected to be unavoidable even if the special act passes.